


it starts with an earthquake

by chasingforeverandaday



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Banter, Earthquakes, F/M, Gendry is a disaster who can't talk to pretty girls, Natural Disasters, San Andreas AU, and Gendry is just along for the ride, in which Arya is super capable, life threatening circumstances, snarky little brother, so overall his day is going great
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23556787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasingforeverandaday/pseuds/chasingforeverandaday
Summary: When a disaster of a job interview turns into a literal disaster, Gendry Waters is left floundering in an unfamiliar city where catastrophe lurks around every corner. Lucky for him, that really pretty girl he nearly leveled earlier and her snarky younger brother are willing to save his ass a time or five. All they have to do is survive until rescue arrives. What's the worst that could happen?AKA a really random San Andreas AU for the prompt "trapped"
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 30
Kudos: 71





	it starts with an earthquake

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I was going to write a canon fic for this prompt, but this popped into my head and suddenly I had a story half finished in no time at all. The hard part was, you know, finishing it. This is the first modern AU I've written for this fandom, so hopefully my characterizations don't feel too off. Oh, and I switched up the plot a bit, so Arya has the younger sibling there, not Gendry, because the actor who plays Rickon is literally in this movie as Ollie and I love him. 
> 
> This has nothing to do with anything, but yesterday I went outside for the first time in almost three weeks and guess who got sunburned! Hint: her name is Jen and you can tell exactly where her tanktop straps were.
> 
> So the title is what it is because a) it's bluntly accurate and b) R.E.M. Please leave any comments below, they absolutely make my day!

Weirdly enough, Gendry had not anticipated dying under a collapsing building when he went to this stupid job interview. Also, he hadn’t presumed to think he’d go down helping a frantic teenager try to save his (incredibly attractive) older sister from being crushed in a car from the same building attempting to kill Gendry. Because of course he couldn’t go to San Francisco without a fucking earthquake hitting.

This was obviously karma for something, although what exactly that something was, Gendry had no idea. But he must have pissed off some sort of deity recently, because other than meeting the aforementioned incredibly attractive woman he was pulling out of danger, today had royally sucked. Even though he’d had multiple internships with Stag Technologies Global, hell they’d even helped him pay for his graduate degree and practically guaranteed him a job after graduation, his interview had been a mess from the very beginning. 

Arryn, the man he’d been supposed to be seeing, the one who’d he’d worked under last summer, was apparently called away suddenly and couldn’t meet with him. Instead, he got the CEO’s wife, who had no clue about anything related to engineering but seemed to have it out for him. He could barely get a word in edgewise as she judged his appearance, his credentials, and fuck, she tried to judge him for earning his degrees at a public school rather than an Ivy League, no matter that he’d gone to one of the best engineering schools in the country. So he’d gotten quieter and quieter, desperately trying not to lose his cool and storm out of that claustrophobic little room, because his chance at a career here couldn’t come back from that. He’d even managed not to punch the wall after he was dismissed, fists clenched and jaw so tight he knew it would hurt in the morning.

The only bright spot had been Arya, the sassy woman he’d barged into on his way to the secretary’s desk, planning on setting up another meeting with Arryn to hopefully sort out this disaster before drowning his sorrows at the bar near his hotel. He’d basically run her over in his hurry to leave today behind, but she wasn’t someone to be ignored. If her flashing gray glare hadn’t snagged his attention, the vibrant red of the very much out of place hockey jersey she was wearing certainly would have. He’d managed to catch her before she landed on her ass, but may have forgotten to let go of her waist after that.

“So are you planning on letting me go anytime soon, or am I gonna need to forcibly remove those hands?” She startled him out of whatever daze he was in, his eyes darting up from where they’d gotten stuck on her cherry lips. One of her brows was cocked sarcastically, and that red smirk looked more amused than angry as he snatched his hands back, coming up to rub at the back of his neck. 

“Sorry, I just… Yeah, sorry,” he rambled, still a little stunned by the tiny beauty in front of him.

“It’s fine, just, you know, personal space and all that jazz.” She wiggled her fingers with a flourish and God if it wasn’t the most adorable thing he’d ever seen. 

“Well, you look good, so…” he trailed off, not totally sure why those words had come out of his mouth, but really, really wishing that they hadn’t.

She looked him up and down slowly, with what he hoped was an appreciative gleam in her eye. Crossing her arms, she replied, “You do too.”

“No, I meant…” _Exactly what I said. Shit._ The beautiful woman in his favorite team’s sweater who might actually be flirting with him seemed to have triggered a latent self-destruct in his brain, because he had absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Except, well, “Uh, let’s go Hawks?”

Snorting, she pursed her lips and gave him the most unimpressed look possible. It was terrifyingly hot. “Uh huh, it was totally the jersey you were looking at there.”

Deciding to go for broke, he channels every ounce of his minuscule charm into this response, because fuck him if he doesn’t at least try to salvage this interaction. “Well, the woman wearing the jersey is definitely the highlight, but I do like the Blackhawks.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really. I’ll prove it to you, if you like. Maybe over drinks later?” 

“If you were really a Hawks fan, you’d know they have a game against the Sharks later, which one might assume I’m going to while dressed like this in San Francisco.”

“And since I’m a real Hawks fan, I know the game is this afternoon, not tonight, so you would hypothetically have plenty of time to meet me for drinks.” Gendry stepped closer, almost brushing her arms with his own as he grinned down at her. “I promise you can interrogate me on the team later if you’d like.”

The smile on her face was bright enough to banish some of his residual anger from earlier, and God he wanted that look directed at him all the time. “I guess we’ll just have to see, now won’t we?” They’d both drifted closer now, stuck in their own little world until an impatient voice echoes between them.

“Arya, come on! Uncle Robert said it’s time to head out so we can get lunch before the game!” A hand appears on the woman’s, Arya’s, arm and tugs, a redheaded teenager in a matching jersey trying to get her to cooperate. But even though he’s at least a head taller than her, his gangly build isn’t enough to sway her from where she stands, still gazing up at Gendry with a slightly dazed look on her face. “Ar, you can flirt with the cute guy later, we need to go now!”

“Oh my God, shut up Rickon! Let me just…” she looks exasperated and more than a little flushed, which does not in any way make her less attractive. “Give me your phone.” He unlocks it and complies wordlessly, still dumbstruck that she’s even talking to him. She types something in quickly, and then demands, “And your name?”

“My name?”

“Or I can program you into mine as ‘Stupid Blue Eyes,’ but I figured I should start with something neutral, like your actual name.” 

“Gendry, my name is Gendry.” If he’s breathless, no one needs to know but the pair of them, and apparently Rickon, who was bouncing up and down like a toddler on a sugar high.

“I’m Arya, but I hope you’d have figured that out by now.” Another annoyed noise from her brother prompted her to turn around and finally leave, but before she stepped into the elevator, she called over her shoulder, “I’ve got to go, text me later handsome!” Less than twenty minutes later, the quake had hit and he'd been helping Arryn's elderly secretary out of the stairwell when Rickon came pelting around the corner, screaming for someone to come save his sister.

A second, stronger aftershock forces him to refocus on the task at hand, digging Arya out from the backseat of a car that’s steadily growing more and more cramped. One of her legs was trapped under the debris, though she could still feel and move it which was good.

The kid, Rickon, was shouting now, chest heaving with tears as he once more yanked at the useless rear handle, banging on the door for his sister. She seemed remarkably calm, working to quiet her brother enough that they could figure out a solution to saving her. Catching her eye over Rickon’s shoulder, Gendry sees a flash of fear before she covers it back up with determination. 

Knowing this is all on him, feeling the metaphorical weight of it all bearing down on him, he wants to hide, wants to wake up from this nightmare of a situation so he’s not the one holding someone else’s life in his hands. But life sucks, and he has to man up and save the pretty girl from dying.

Moving to the back of the car, he manages to wrench the trunk open using a pipe and starts searching for tools, anything to give him an avenue to work with. He hands the makeshift crowbar to Rickon and tells him to start prying Arya’s door off or at least widening the window; it will give him something to do so Gendry can figure out how the hell to untrap her foot. The subsequent banging and tearing of metal means he’s going to have to use caution when pulling her out lest one of them gets sliced open, but at least now he can reach for her.

Staring at the contents of the trunk, he wishes this was his own beat up car, because then at least he’d have his toolbox to work with, plus all the random shit he’s accumulated over the years. There’s nothing there but a backpack he’s pretty sure is Rickon’s, so he removes it before ripping up the liner so he can get at the compartment underneath. If he’s right, and he prays he is, this kind of car should have a jack somewhere with the spare tire, which he can use to adjust the angle of whatever has fallen on Arya just enough so he can grab her and… 

His hand touches cool, smooth metal, and he has a way to save Arya; now it’s just a race against the clock to get her out before the car completely collapses. Pushing Rickon gently but firmly out of the way, he takes in what he has to work with. It sounds terrible to admit, but she’s lucky the concrete hit the driver exactly where it did, because the extra mass underneath is the only reason she hasn’t lost her foot yet. 

Gendry sets down the jack and makes a stack of as many flat pieces of debris as he can to raise it up. He cranks it as fast and hard as he can, careful not to snap the handle but he can see the weight bearing down more and more on Arya as gravity wins the battle with the chunk of concrete. But he reaches the end of the jack’s reach, and it isn’t quite enough, as the jack is barely touching the bottom of the block. “Shit. Wait, hang on, let me think.” He’s up and pacing, glancing everywhere as if a solution will just reveal itself.

Somehow, Arya finds the humor to snort lightly, reminding him, “I can’t exactly go anywhere stupid.” A swift look at her face shows him her true feelings, the hope in Arya’s eyes is almost gone when she sees that he can’t free her. When she catches his gaze, her eyes deliberately turn to Rickon before staring back at Gendry with a plea. Wordlessly, he nods, a promise to look after her brother should something happen to her. 

Looking around again in wild desperation, he finally sees Rickon still gripping the piece of pipe, wary of the end that’s sharp enough to… “Puncture the tires!” 

“What?” “What?” Neither of the siblings seem to have any idea what he means, but he can feel the crazy smile on his face now that he’s found it, a way to save her.

“Rickon, I need you to puncture all the tires with that, it should give us just enough space to pull your sister out!” The ground shakes again, the afterquakes somehow still growing stronger as the parking garage feels like it’s being torn to pieces. The car groans as the concrete sinks lower and lower. “Rickon now!”

Gendry reaches for Arya as she reaches for him, a steady grip on his forearms as the car jolts lower with every flat tire. Just as the last one releases, her fingers go taut and she shifts, telling him to “Go, go, go!” as her leg pulls free and he yanks her out of the backseat just before the roof is crushed flat.

They land on the ground with a thump, Arya sprawled across his body like a limp rag doll. After a moment, her complete lack of movement truly begins to worry Gendry, but as he moves some wildly tangled hair out of her face, he sees her eyes screwed shut as she takes tiny panting breaths against his chest, and then he registers the minute shaking that’s overtaken her as she lets out a sob. “Hey, hey, you’re fine.” He tilts her chin up so she has no choice but to look him in the eye as he shushes her. “Arya, you’re okay, I promise.”

Then more weight drops heavily on his chest as Rickon launches himself at his sister, wrapping around her like an overgrown koala. “Arya! I thought you weren’t gonna make it!” Feeling like he’s intruding, but stuck on the ground, Gendry tries to look away to give them some semblance of privacy. The sweaty hand that grabs his tightly stops him though, as do the gray eyes glistening with unshed tears.

“Thank you. Just, thank you.”

“Of course, anyone would have-”

“No, they wouldn’t have, but you did. So let me say thank you Gendry. Because you saved my life.” Her face is close now, so close he can feel every exhale tickle his mouth. She’s close enough to kiss, if he was feeling brave; all he’d have to do is lift his head an inch and their lips would touch. 

“Um, guys?” At some point while Arya had been talking, Rickon must have lifted himself off the pair of them, because he was staring off into the darkness with his backpack securely on his shoulders. “I think we really need to get out of here before we’re totally stuck.” 

“Good point baby brother.” Arya clambered off of him far more gracefully than he could ever manage, keeping a steady hold on his hand as she helped him to his feet. “Alright, let’s go.” Dragging himself and Rickon behind her, Arya marched towards the sliver of brightness that meant freedom and daylight. 

Outside, the horror of the catastrophe is somehow almost worse. Underground, all he had to focus on was saving Arya from dying. On the streets of San Francisco, chaos reigns supreme as people jostle and run with no direction, only out, out, out of the buildings that once meant safety, but now are crumbling at their feet. He’s pulled out of his daze by a squeeze of Arya’s hand, her understanding gaze meeting his own as the full extent of the situation dawns on them both.

“C’mon,” she says, sounding far more sure of herself than Gendry thinks he could manage right now. “I have an idea.” She leads them, never dropping his hand or her brother’s. Eventually she makes him walk in front of her, uses him as a battering ram when the crowd tries to push them back. Soon though, they find an empty street, except for a few piles of rubble. He does his best not to notice the glimpses of clothes he accidentally sees under the wreckage, too shell shocked to deal with death up close.

A few more minutes pass as they walk the deserted road, hands still snugly together. Something that’s been bothering since they left Stag Tech behind finally registers, and he stops for a moment, lightly tugging at her to pause. The world is quiet here, and they can afford to collect themselves. “What happened to your uncle? When Rickon came to find help, he was alone…” he trails off, not quite sure how to phrase the question he wants to ask.

“He was the one driving. I think it was quick, or at least I hope it was,” she says quietly. Arya looks faraway now, and he regrets ever bringing this up, causing her more pain than the crushed car had in the first place. “Robert wasn’t even technically our uncle, just Dad’s best friend for forever. When he heard we were going to be out here so I could look at grad schools, he offered to take us to the game later.” She cuts herself off with a sharp, humorless laugh. “His wife, Cersei, she just booked it out of there. I have no clue how the fuck she ran that fast in her stupid stilettos, but she was gone before Rickon could even get his seatbelt off.” 

Her other hand comes up to rub at her face, and for some reason the fact that she’s still holding onto him but has let go of Rickon feels incredibly significant. “God, she just left him down there in the dark. Like fuck her for leaving me, but _fuck her_ for leaving my baby brother behind.”

“We got out,” he goes to reassure her, but she puts that hand to his chest, right over his heart, not pushing him away, but not letting him closer either. Gendry raises his free hand to rest over hers, and in a different world, they might look like they’re dancing. But no, in this world they’re covered in dust and aimlessly wandering in a city rocked to its core. He tightens the hand over hers until he knows she can feel his heartbeat through his shirt. Leaning his head down, he whispers in her ear, “We got out, and we’re alive. That might not be much, but at least it’s something.”

Her hand flexes on his chest, and she smiles tentatively. They stand there, caught in a gravity of their own making. Until, of course, Rickon decides to interrupt them. Again. He’s rambling on about the electronics store that’s like a block away, but Gendry can’t take his eyes off of Arya.

“So does he do that on purpose, or was your brother just born with an innate sense of terrible timing?” he mutters under his breath, just loud enough that she can hear him. She muffles a snicker and shoves him casually, comfortable in his space like they’ve known each other for years.

“Well, he walked in on our brother Robb trying to propose three times and was never any the wiser, so I like to think he’s just that oblivious.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you've ever seen San Andreas, you know this is nowhere near the end of the movie. There's so much more to come, so I'll work on getting that done sometime this month, but this felt like a natural point to stop for now.


End file.
